It's Great Being Back Here ... Is That Picture of the Mad Knight Still Around?
It feels really weird to be posting on LJ now. For one thing, I know hardly anybody will read it. Then there's that whole thing with Russia and their anti-gay persecution. I have had to agree to Livejournal's user agreement to keep this journal, which gives them the right to yank my LJ at any time without notice, because obviously I'm not going to refrain from posting pro-gay material whenever I feel like it. Losing this LJ would make me very sad, because I'm a compulsive hoarder and archivist and the entries and comments here comprise some of my most treasured memories. I know some of you have deleted your LJs, and I don't see how you could bear to do that. Ah well, I upload to Dreamwidth periodically and I'll, like Chudley Cannon fans, just keep my fingers crossed and hope for the best.
Anyway, I'm in another HP-nostalgia period right now; they seem to strike me every couple of years. I'm re-reading all the books and, just like last time, I find myself with things to say and no place but here that seems right to say them. So I will, whether anyone will ever read it or not.
I can't read the first five books without being constantly reminded of the things we argued about in the never-ending ship debates that I devoted so much of my time to in the 2002-2005 time period. One might think that would harm or lessen my reading enjoyment now, but the case is far, far otherwise--quite the opposite, in fact.
I spent an outrageous amount of time thinking and talking about the first five books in the Harry Potter series, and writing about them at my comfy computer desk, with all the books in both US and UK versions always within reach, constantly referring to them, thumbing through them, and typing out quotes to support my arguments. During that time period I knew the books so well I could instantly find any scene, description, or bit of dialogue. I was intimately familiar with the text in a way I've rarely experienced with anything else. It's an even deeper familiarity than I got from trying to write a fifth-year fanfiction, or with Jane Austen or Tolkien books I've read and loved 87 times, or the text of plays that I happened to be acting in, or the script of the first Pirates of the Caribbean movie when I was so deeply into that.
There was something about arguing, deeply and passionately, that kept me from getting bored with constant re-reading of the same texts, and gave them a sense of importance and consequentialness that they obviously don't really have. Rationally, I realize that it doesn't matter AT ALL whether or not Harry Potter related to Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger as the closest thing he had to a family or whether Hermione enjoyed arguing with Ron and vice versa, but emotionally it still feels to me like something important, significant, worthwhile, and deeply pleasurable to ponder.
No, my current regret isn't that I argued so much about the first five books (though I may have some regrets about my scariness and vehemence). My regret is that I failed to do anything like that with the last two books. I vowed, after the final pairings were made clear in Book Six and Rowling's "Interview of Doom," that I would never "debate ship" again and I kept that vow. But as a result I don't have anything like the deep familiarity with the last two books as I have with the first five. And I miss it! I did the best I could with the sixth book, trying to figure out the "heart of it all," defending Severus Snape and the Harrycrux, blathering about sexual symbolism and suchlike, but it just wasn't the same. And, of course, after Book Seven it was just ... over. The final book satisfied my curiousity, released my tension, and in general freed me from my eight-year obsession with the Harry Potter universe, and I never (that I recall) leafed through that book to write an essay or make an argument, or even to write fanfiction.
So now I'm wishing there was some big dispute I could get into with somebody that would force me to endlessly scour the sixth and seventh books for insight and perfect bits to quote to make my point, but I can't even imagine what such a dispute might be about. I suppose I could defend the quality of J.K. Rowling's writing against people who find it so very wanting, but that's not nearly as juicy as gossiping about characters' love lives, delving into their characters, and defending them against calumny. And, besides, I totally recognize that the quality of her writing will always be subjective, unlike my former arguing obsession which had only one correct answer, one that was guaranteed to be revealed eventually--which made it much more fun!
Are there any ongoing arguments in the HP world right now that I'm missing? Does anyone know? Or I guess I could try writing post-canon fanfic or something...
Anyway, I'm in another HP-nostalgia period right now; they seem to strike me every couple of years. I'm re-reading all the books and, just like last time, I find myself with things to say and no place but here that seems right to say them. So I will, whether anyone will ever read it or not.
I can't read the first five books without being constantly reminded of the things we argued about in the never-ending ship debates that I devoted so much of my time to in the 2002-2005 time period. One might think that would harm or lessen my reading enjoyment now, but the case is far, far otherwise--quite the opposite, in fact.
I spent an outrageous amount of time thinking and talking about the first five books in the Harry Potter series, and writing about them at my comfy computer desk, with all the books in both US and UK versions always within reach, constantly referring to them, thumbing through them, and typing out quotes to support my arguments. During that time period I knew the books so well I could instantly find any scene, description, or bit of dialogue. I was intimately familiar with the text in a way I've rarely experienced with anything else. It's an even deeper familiarity than I got from trying to write a fifth-year fanfiction, or with Jane Austen or Tolkien books I've read and loved 87 times, or the text of plays that I happened to be acting in, or the script of the first Pirates of the Caribbean movie when I was so deeply into that.
There was something about arguing, deeply and passionately, that kept me from getting bored with constant re-reading of the same texts, and gave them a sense of importance and consequentialness that they obviously don't really have. Rationally, I realize that it doesn't matter AT ALL whether or not Harry Potter related to Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger as the closest thing he had to a family or whether Hermione enjoyed arguing with Ron and vice versa, but emotionally it still feels to me like something important, significant, worthwhile, and deeply pleasurable to ponder.
No, my current regret isn't that I argued so much about the first five books (though I may have some regrets about my scariness and vehemence). My regret is that I failed to do anything like that with the last two books. I vowed, after the final pairings were made clear in Book Six and Rowling's "Interview of Doom," that I would never "debate ship" again and I kept that vow. But as a result I don't have anything like the deep familiarity with the last two books as I have with the first five. And I miss it! I did the best I could with the sixth book, trying to figure out the "heart of it all," defending Severus Snape and the Harrycrux, blathering about sexual symbolism and suchlike, but it just wasn't the same. And, of course, after Book Seven it was just ... over. The final book satisfied my curiousity, released my tension, and in general freed me from my eight-year obsession with the Harry Potter universe, and I never (that I recall) leafed through that book to write an essay or make an argument, or even to write fanfiction.
So now I'm wishing there was some big dispute I could get into with somebody that would force me to endlessly scour the sixth and seventh books for insight and perfect bits to quote to make my point, but I can't even imagine what such a dispute might be about. I suppose I could defend the quality of J.K. Rowling's writing against people who find it so very wanting, but that's not nearly as juicy as gossiping about characters' love lives, delving into their characters, and defending them against calumny. And, besides, I totally recognize that the quality of her writing will always be subjective, unlike my former arguing obsession which had only one correct answer, one that was guaranteed to be revealed eventually--which made it much more fun!
Are there any ongoing arguments in the HP world right now that I'm missing? Does anyone know? Or I guess I could try writing post-canon fanfic or something...